Friday, July 8, 2011

People on the left have often appeared to excuse Muslim acts of terror saying things such as “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” At the same time, the left has seemingly become more anti-Israel and anti-American. It seems as if it is a contradiction that people on the left, who supposedly have gay rights, women’s rights, and separation of church and state as their core values, would so often side with a group that goes against all these main principles.

One of the areas where radical Muslims and the left have found common ground is in their hatred of western style culture -- America and Israel, in particular. In their view, America and Israel are the true evil in the world. Both groups speak of America and Israel in such a way as to create caricatures of exploitation and colonialism.

Radical Muslims refer to America as the Big Satan and to Israel as the Little Satan. Radical leftists spell America with a K or three Ks to illustrate its supposed racism. Both groups seem to enjoy burning American flags. The leftist dominated United Nations is quick to condemn Israel and Zionism, in particular, as racism but at the same time will appoint countries such as Syria to head groups on human rights! American intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky have been rabidly anti-American and anti-Israeli.

It is even worse in the case of education because an entirely new generation is trained in the illogical and self destructive hatred of America and Israel. Noam Chomsky teaches college kids that “The Arab-Islamic world has a long history of democracy. It's regularly crushed by western force”. Clearly kids in Chomsky’s classrooms don’t hear about the women who get stoned to death for adultery. Nor do they hear about the fate of a person who dares commit the horrible offense of changing his religion from Islam to Christianity.

Directly in the Muslim world, the indoctrination of children begins at younger ages and is more violent but the methods are essentially the same. Young children are not taught facts. They are shown maps of the Middle East where Israel doesn’t even exist – not in the present, past or future. Children are given textbooks claiming that some Jews were transformed into pigs and apes. They are told to read excerpts from the known forgery “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” which claims that Jewish people are intent on world domination. In some cases, young children are trained in suicide bombing!

Both of these radical groups want to create mindless foot soldiers who are ready to do battle on their behalf. The training of the foot soldiers begins at a young age -- But what of the battle itself? What are the plans and how is this battle to be fought?

One of the leftist heroes is community organizer Saul Alinsky. In ‘Rules for Radicals’, Alinsky laid out his battle plan. In comparing Alinsky’s rhetoric with that coming out of the radical Muslim world there are startling similarities. Both leftist and Muslim radicals rely on deception. Alinsky said “Always remember the first rule of power tactics; power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.” In the Koran it says “War is deception”.

Alinsky said "In the beginning the organizer's first job is to create the issues or problems." This is exactly what the left is doing today in the flotilla that is going to Gaza. Both the Muslims and the left know that Israel cannot let ships pass through uninspected to the Gaza strip because of past and current weapons smuggling. The people heading out on this flotilla are following Alinsky’s statement to the letter! In this case, acting in unison, both radical groups are forcing Israel into a public high profile action meant to make it look cruel and violent. By sending out the flotilla in this way, they put Israel in a no-win situation. This is exactly what Alinsky meant when he said “create the issues or problems”.

In the Koran, it says “The necessities justify the forbidden.” Alinsky said about means and ends:“’Does the end justify the means?’ is meaningless as it stands; the real and only question regarding the ethics of means and ends is, and always has been, ‘Does this particular end justify this particular means?’”The Koran forbids certain actions but allows for exceptions in cases where there is a perceived threat to Islam or where Muslim goals can be achieved. The fact that these exceptions are open to interpretation means that there is basically nothing forbidden in the Koran which is why radical Muslims can justify suicide bombers and the targeting of innocents. Alinsky said “In war, the end justifies almost any means”.

Both radical Islam and radical leftists use fear and intimidation to keep both their friends and their enemies in line. Alinsky said “It is a sad fact of life that power and fear are the fountainheads of faith.” He also said "Society has good reason to fear the Radical … He hits, he hurts, he is dangerous ... Radicals are most adept at breaking the necks of Conservatives." The Koran says “slay the Pagans wherever ye find them”, and "Fight those who believe not in Allah”.

The result of these policies of intimidation in the Muslim world is that those peaceful loving Muslims that we keep hearing so much about are never heard from. They have been intimidated into silence. Similarly, people in the western world have been intimidated into silence or at best, feeling they have to rationalize their views. While threats of death are the methods in the radical Muslim world, in the west the threat is more subtle. Out of control political correctness has caused people to become afraid to speak about common sense issues while the radical and the insane become more normalized.

Both radical Islam and radical leftists fear the power of the individual while glorifying death and martyrdom. Alinsky said “The greatest enemy of individual freedom is the individual himself.” He also said “Once you accept your own death, all of a sudden you're free to live. You no longer care about your reputation. You no longer care except so far as your life can be used tactically to promote a cause you believe in.” A Taliban spokesman said “There are thousands of youth who look forward to death like the Americans look forward to living.” Muslim children are taught to give their life for a greater power and rewards in heaven. Leftists are taught to give their lives for their utopian paradise.

Both radical Islam and radical leftists have contempt for the average person. They have contempt for both their enemies AND their friends. People are looked on as beings that need to be led, not as people who are capable of finding their own way. The Koran says “Believers! Do not ask questions about things which if made plain and declared to you, may vex you, causing you trouble." They are told to accept everything that is spoon-fed to them on faith and to not seek answers or to even ask questions!

Alinsky said about the average person: “Their lives have been 90 per cent unfulfilled dreams. To escape their frustration they grasp at a last hope that their children will get that college education and realize those unfulfilled dreams. They are a fearful people who feel threatened from all sides.” Alinsky also felt that a “target” was needed to inspire the emotion needed to get people organized. Radical Muslims have that target in Israel, America and the west. Leftists in the United States rely on class warfare and tend to pick out a ‘Darth Vader’ like embodiment of evil. Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Dick Cheney, Haliburton and Walmart (corporations are often cast as the ‘Darth Vader of the day’) have all been targeted for attack.

Alinsky said “An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent… He must create a mechanism that can drain off the underlying guilt for having accepted the previous situation for so long a time. Out of this mechanism, a new community organization arises”. In the case of Alinsky and the left, they have to tear down and discredit the free market in order to build something back in their own image. Therefore, their policies are destructive. In the case of radical Islam, in order to use the people’s dissatisfaction and discontent, they have to keep the Palestinians in a state of poverty in order to use them for propaganda value. The Arab and Muslim world could have easily absorbed Palestinian refugees but that would have taken away their most important leverage tool.

Radical Muslims and radical leftists have many differences but they also have a lot in common.